8 Most Unusual WordPress Websites

The WordPress CMS remains one of the pivotal stakeholders in the internet as we know it. Studies have shown that 26% of the entire web is powered by WordPress alone. This staggering number is further bolstered by the sheer variety of themes, plugins and modification options available. Learn more about WordPress sites future.

The plethora of customization capabilities WordPress has is bound to give birth to unique, original websites. Let’s take a look at several examples of what WordPress is capable of generating for your business or personal website.

Benefits of WordPress

Before we get into the sites themselves, let’s talk about WordPress and the benefits it offers. It’s clear by now that both casual and professional bloggers and site managers know about this CMS. While that may be the case, we should clear up the confusion and talk about why this CMS is so popular.

Ease of use

The first thing worth mentioning in regards to WordPress is how lightweight, accessible and easy-to-learn it really is. WordPress features a very intuitive UI which doesn’t revolve around coding or programming languages. It’s visually pleasing, easy to understand and most importantly, allows for quick and painless publishing of new content.

A search engine favorite

Given the fact that a large part of the internet is powered by WordPress, search engines such as Google and Yahoo have grown fond of it. SEO optimization is very intuitive and easy to manage through WordPress, allowing for much better rankings as a result. Search engines have an easier time discerning the content of your site if WordPress is behind it due to the widespread popularity and influence it presents.

Built-in blogging

Lastly, WordPress is a CMS with ready-made blog templates and blogging elements ripe for use. You can use WordPress to host a number of different sites including e-commerce and company representative websites. Any and all of these sites can be equipped with blogs which can add further value to any visitor that may come across it. Blogging through WordPress is seamless as it doesn’t require any additional plugins to operate correctly.

8 Most Unusual WordPress sites

Who would have thought that the world’s largest conglomerate would use WordPress for their online presence? Since The Walt Disney Company has managed to use WordPress effectively, there is very little reason for you not to consider it. The site is built with Disney Company’s history and legacy front and center. It plays on nostalgia and offers a detailed look at what the company has achieved since its inception.

What stands out, in particular, is that the company opted for a simplistic, minimalist approach to web design as opposed to their brand and identity. However, the site is leaned more towards the corporate side of things as it offers a repository of information on all the brands and subsidiaries which operate under Disney’s banner. Make sure to check The Walt Disney Company’s site out if you are looking for inspiration about minimalistic WordPress design solutions.

WertMacher is a German brand company with an emphasis on creating unique brands and company identities. What separates their website from the crowd is its emphasis on highlighted minimalism. More than 90% of their landing page and subsequent internal links puts images and visuals front and center.

While the navigation bar and footer retains their usual informative structure, the central area of each page is devoted to high-quality images. These allow WertMacher to showcase what their company is all about and how visitors can become a part of their branding vision. This design solution is perfectly suited for anyone who operates in the design industry, be it through marketing campaigns or creative design.

If you ever wondered if WordPress can support VR plugins and customization options, look no further than We Virtually Are. This site is built with all the latest VR tools and technical capabilities in mind, including 360-degree videos, guided company tours, and WebGL to name a few. While the visitors do need headsets to experience the complete plethora of options available at We Virtually Are, the peripheral is not a necessity.

What the site does showcase perfectly is the extent to which you can push WordPress and still come out with amazing results. It can be a very effective tactic to combine the VR capabilities of a site such as We Virtually Are with an internationalization service such as The Word Point. All you need as proof is to experience the site’s VR test drives in order to appreciate what the CMS is capable of pulling off.

You may be familiar with the numerous loot box services scattered around the web. These services offer surprise packages each month and vary based on the users’ interests. Fair Ivy settles into this niche but with a surprising catch – it’s only designed for women. The WordPress-powered Fair Ivy sports a mellow, pleasing design solution.

It invites users to go through the options available on the site and subscribe to the monthly packages based on their interests. The site’s design features soft color palettes and serif fonts which don’t appear intrusive in any way. The landing page of Fair Ivy is cleverly designed and offers a range of content including testimonials, certificates and contact information as well as legalities at the bottom. This design solution can easily be retrofitted for numerous companies and online stores with similar business models to Fair Ivy.

Negative space has often been used to showcase important information, be it in printed design or online solutions. Blue Cadet is a User Experience (UX) design agency. Their website is powered by WordPress and features a design solution akin to modernist art movements of the 20th century. There is a lot of white space and seemingly empty background in Blue Cadet’s website.

However, this space is used to highlight the important, featured information on the landing page and subsequent links. What Blue Cadet is trying to convey is that there is no need for overly intrusive background images or textures. The pivotal elements are there, present for the viewers to see without relying on tricks that artificially fill out the screen. In this regard, Blue Cadet relies on strong copywriting, striking images (where there are any) and the user’s own intelligence in discerning what is what on the site.

Food processing and production is a very important aspect of modern society. With so many artificial nutrients, pesticides and unwanted elements in our everyday sustenance, no wonder that sites such as Analytica Projects exist. However, the organization went a step further and opted for a very unique, single-page WordPress site solution.

What separates Analytica Projects from traditional WordPress sites is its reliance on animation, continuous scrolling and creative graphics. You would be hard-pressed to figure out that Analytica is powered entirely by WordPress from the sheer number of different content types on offer. The site scrolls as the upper-right corner circle fills up with the color spectrum, allowing the user to jump back up at any moment. It is a unique solution and one that can be used in a number of NGO websites, as well as by startups across the globe.

Podcasts are rampant in today’s modern age of smartphones and commute. As the representative example, 99% Invisible offers a very unique take on WordPress design. The podcast’s site is built with different categories and episodes in mind.

99% Invisible is a design podcast first and foremost, and as such, it does abide by its own rules and principles. It offers a very limited color palette which allows the visitor to quickly discern what is what. It features a built-in podcast player which is another WordPress addition easily added to a website. The website showcases how you don’t need overly complex landing pages or dozens of links in order to get your message across. All you really need is a stable idea and a message which you will communicate through your WordPress site.

Lastly, 2AM Media successfully merges animation, video, and images in their WordPress-powered website. 2AM Media is a UK-based web design agency and as such, their job is to highlight the expertise and professionalism of their designers. They have managed to do so by introducing a unique take on WordPress design, opting to build their plugins and graphics from the ground up, in-house.

The result is a breathtaking visual identity of a web design agency that knows how to treat their clientele. As their portfolio extends to UX design as well as UI, 2AM media has managed to implement all of their services into their own website for demonstration. While it may be difficult to recreate what the agency managed to pull off without a seasoned web designer, the site still stands as an unusual, one-of-a-kind WordPress-powered solution.

In Summation

Whether you are a curious onlooker or a professional designer, there is a lot to learn from WordPress and the companies that implement it correctly. These sites are only a taste of what the creative professionals have managed to pull off in their design solutions. Make sure to keep an eye out for unusual and unique takes on WordPress and try to build on those designs in your own practice should you get the chance to do so. After all, the only way to evolve what the CMS is capable of is through careful examination and experimentation.

Image source: Each screenshot taken from its respective website/hyperlink.

Erica Sunarjo

Erica Sunarjo graduated from South Texas College majoring in Marketing and Creative Writing. She used her knowledge to make a difference in the realm of business copywriting and invested heavily in traveling and language learning. At present, Erica is fluent in French and Spanish, studying Chinese and working her way to being a multilingual copywriter. She keeps track of the latest trends in IT and technologies, blogs about efficient strategies in education and business coaching, holds educational webinars.

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